Mihin Lanka;

Direct flights between Colombo-Katmandu from April

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

With the signing of the Open Sky Agreement between Sri Lanka and Nepal, Mihin Lanka will explore the possibility of launching direct flights between Colombo and Katmandu from April.

Acting Chairman and CEO, Mihin Lanka, Kapila Chandrasena said that they are looking at including Katmandu for the airline's new winter schedule, which would be announced in April.

"With the signing of the bilateral agreement, by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the environment has now been created for us to fly to Nepal," he said.

"We were always looking at new destinations specially where there is religious traffic and Nepal is one such destination," he said.

The Bodhgaya operations are highly successful with flights operating to capacity.

He also disclosed that they would be flying to Cochin (Kerala) from April and would operate three flights a week. This is in addition to operating four flights each to Trichchi and Dubai and Sunday flights to Bodhgaya. With the Bodhgaya season ending this month the last flight will be on March 29.

Meanwhile, several Indian airlines operating to Colombo are also trying to exploit the Nepal-Sri Lanka Open Sky Agreement and are contemplating flying from Colombo to Katmandu.

President, Sri Lanka Nepal Business Council, Jagath Savanadasa, while haling the open sky agreement said that this is an opportunity the airlines would seriously look at, as Katmandu is a lucrative destination.

He said that the trade and specially tourism between Sri Lanka and Nepal would increase with direct flights. "By signing series of agreements, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stimulated investor confidence for Sri Lanka entrepreneurs to do business in Nepal," he said.

He said that Local enterprises have opportunities in the construction, power generation, tourism and financial services. Currently Lankan annual exports to Nepal are around Rs. 60 million while imports from Nepal are around Rs. 5 million.